Truly fucking awful news about Matt Derenbecker, found dead this morning. He was 22 years old.

Details from the Times-Picayune:

Matt Derenbecker, who played college basketball at UNO, Dayton and LSU and was a high school star at Country Day, was found dead Saturday night in Ponchatoula at a friend’s house where he was house sitting, his father, John Derenbecker said. He was 22.

John Derenbecker said Matt did not show up at Louis Armstrong Airport to pick up his girlfriend, prompting the family to check on him at the friend’s house. He was found in the swimming pool at the residence.

“We’re just trying to remember the good right now,” said John Derenbecker, who added his son had been battling “demons” for some time.

Derenbecker, 6-foot-7, was a highly-recruited forward after he was twiced named the Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year his junior and senior seasons in high school. He signed with LSU and averaged 6.5 points and 2.1 rebounds per game for the Tigers as a freshman, starting in 16 games.

But Derenbecker left LSU in August of 2011, saying he needed time to address “personal matters.”

He transferred to the University of Dayton, sat out the 2011-12 season because of NCAA transfer rules then played in for the Flyers in 2012-13. He averaged 4.5 points and 1.1 rebounds that season before electing to transfer to UNO.

He was granted a waiver by the NCAA to play in 2013-14. But in January of this year, he left the team because of undisclosed medical reasons.

Derenbecker was averaging 10.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in nine games before leaving the team.